Berge



Patented Mar. 16, 1926.

U ST

PATEN JEAN DEFAUCAMIBERGE, OF PARIS, FRANCE, ASSIGNOR TO SOCIETE FRANCAISE DES CRINS ARTIFICIELS, OF PARIS, FRANCE, A FRENCH CORPORATION.

I PROCESS FOR THE CONSERVATION OF THE PELLICLES OF HYDRATE OR OF HYDRATED ETHERS OF CELLULOSE.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JEAN DnrAUoAM- BERGE, citizen of the French Republic, residing at Paris, Department of the Seine, in France, and having P. 0. address 16 Rue du Louvre, in the said city, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Process for the Conservation of-the Pellicles of Hydrate or of Hydrated Ethers of Cellulose; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, .such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

It is known that the bodies of hydrate or hydrated eiters of cellulose, such as those obtained by bringing about the coagulation of a solution of cellulose in an aqueous medium, contract very greatly while losing their combined water.

If this complete desiccation occurs on a support, the pelliele or film of cellulose moulds itself exactly thereupon, and keeps its shape definitely, even if it is moistened afresh. This property has been utilized more particularly for capping containers lose.

the perfect tightness of which it is desired to secure.

In order to be adapted to industrial applications of this kind. the cellulose compounds should be preserved up to the moment they aroused from any contraction and consequently from any change of condition. This result has been obtained hitherto by storing the cellulose compounds in a liquid which has been made aseptic in order to prevent the growth of molds which spoil wet cellu- It was in these conditions of storage a that they were supplied commercially and this process is not without drawbacks; besides its very high cost, the packing is fragile and bulky.

The subject of the invention is a method of treatingsuch cellulose compounds which permits of their conservation with the desired degree of hydration up to the moment of their use. This method, more convenient and less troublesome than storage in a bulky liquid mass, renders unnecessary all special precautions in the conservation and transport of the product.

For this purpose use is made of the property possessed by deliquescent bodies or salts of dissolving in the water of'the hydrate or Application filed January 12, 1924. Serial No. 685,933.

solution of magnesium chloride, in such manner that they may be completely impregnated with it; they will subsequently be simply drained until they have given up the excess of this solution; they can then be stored and transported like any other goods. When the compounds are to be used, it will suffice to soak them in water in orderto remove the greater part of the deliquescent body, before applying them to the article to be moulded; they will behave on drying exactly like similar compounds which have been conserved in water.

It is to be clearly understood that magnesium chloride is mentioned here merely by way' of example of one application of the invention, any other deliqueccent body, containing a sufliciency of water, either itself antiseptic or to which an innocuous antiseptic is added, is equally suitable for maintaining, without any storing in a liquid mass, the degree of hydration of the cellulose compounds, which resists any change of state and more particularly any contraction.

What I claim is:

1. The method of preserving hydrated cellulose compounds liable to change on drying, which consists in impregnating said compounds with a solution of a deliquescent and antiseptic agent.

ture.

JEAN DEFAUOAMBERGE. 

